She watches with grace as you lift her up. Her fading
santree salwar kameez, her gentle plastic glasses,
her chitta cotton chunni stroking her face

I imagine the cobblers, the shoemakers, the
carpenters, the black-smiths, how they were once so close.
Please let me feel close too, please take me to Sargodha

Where I can also sow wheat, corn, millet, oat and barley
grow lotus roots and swim in the crystal Chenab River
just like her great grandmother, how she kisses

the fields, this water flowing from canal systems built on the backs of
your five rivers, which tended to you, even
as you left them behind, They took my peace of
mind, she tells her this in upstate New York. But she simply

writes and saves her memories. Please let me feel this
once lost fresh air, just like her great grandmother, how her skin still
shines like gold, I taste Saffron on my tongue, say goodbye

to Kesar Kaur, who disappears one last time
taking with her the lentils, the thin sweetened yoghurt
Leaving me with gratitude for my bhenji
a loving soul, just like her great grandmother.

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Jagdeep Raina is an artist and writer based in Guelph Ontario. Raina holds an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and has been an artist in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Madison Maine, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown Massachusetts, the Camden Arts Centre/Slade School of Fine Art in London, England and the Miriam Dawood School of Art and Design in Lahore, Pakistan.

Online: http://jagdeepraina.com

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